User:Thepepyride/PEPY

PEPY is two legal entities: a nonprofit facilitating capacity building and education programs in rural Cambodia, The PEPY Ride, and a for-profit PEPY Tours, offering educational tours to raise global awareness about development in Cambodia as well as funds for the nonprofit’s ongoing programs. Despite the formal separation, the two entities still function together in many ways and are together referred to as “PEPY.”

Mission
PEPY's two-part mission is:

 To aid rural communities in improving their own standards of living, with a focus on increased access to quality education.

 To encourage adventure travel that emphasizes social action, responsibility, and accountability.

Values
PEPY stands for "Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself", an idea rooted in the lessons of the first PEPY Ride that taught about the relationship between the environment and our health. If you Protect the Earth, in effect, you also Protect Yourself. PEPY’s programs have expanded beyond environmental education with a focus now on leadership, Khmer (Cambodian language) literacy, and broader improvements in the education offered in government schools. PEPY’s basic ethos however, is still the same: by making small changes in our lives and continually striving to educate ourselves and those around us, collectively we can truly make a difference. Through PEPY’s educational programs in Cambodia, progress is made toward these goals by investing in a local team of dedicated leaders and connecting them with the tools to help deliver the changes they want to see in the world.

History
What started in 2004 was an idea for a bike ride. Six friends rode from the Thai border to Vietnam through the red dusty back roads of Cambodia to raise funds for educational projects. The team spent five weeks visiting schools and orphanages, teaching the first PEPY environmental lessons. This first PEPY Ride raised enough money to fund the construction of The PEPY Ride School in rural Chanleas Dai, Cambodia, which opened on December 31, 2005.

PEPY’s founders arrived in Cambodia with enthusiasm but also naïveté regarding ground conditions and sustainable development. They aimed to “teach about the environment” when they themselves admittedly knew little about Cambodia or its environment. Through investing time and money in the wrong areas, they learned that investing time in people, not merely giving things away, is what encourages people to take actions to improve their own communities. New schools do not educate children, quality teachers do. And objects do not change lives, people knowing how to use them or make them does. PEPY, "Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself”, was named for a belief rooted in the environmental lessons of that first trip to Cambodia. PEPY’s programs have expanded beyond environmental education with a focus now on leadership, Khmer (Cambodian language) literacy, and broader improvements in the education offered in government schools. Today through partner government schools and informal education initiatives, PEPY supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and 10 schools in rural Siem Reap province. Because PEPY believes education is the key to sustainable change, it is committed to a holistic approach, which empowers children, parents, teachers, and communities to effect the changes they want to see in their lives. It is not PEPY’s place to solve problems for others, but instead to encourage and support others with the tools to solve their own problems.

PEPY Ride (NGO) Programs
PEPY believes that lack of education creates and sustains a cycle of poverty, and feels that by working both within and outside of government schools PEPY can help increase access to quality education, with a focus on environmental and health-education. PEPY’s programs and models of giving are built on these principles: Build capacity in people, partner with other organizations, share our lessons learned, allow flexibility in our programs, work with local government and power structures, and monitor our impact. Through these guidelines PEPY has contributed to significant growth in the availability of quality education in an area of rural Cambodia while also empowering communities to be directly involved in their own growth. Programs include:

Leadership PEPY works to empower school, community, and youth leaders to take action to create quality learning environments—carried out through child and youth leadership clubs, school support committee development and training, and government school partnerships.

Literacy PEPY empowers teachers and students with the tools to increase literacy rates, the use of printed material in the classroom, and a love of reading in government schools—carried out through school and classroom library programs, teacher training, resource creation, Khmer language book printing, and summer literacy camps.

Supplemental Education PEPY works with government schools to offer additional academic programing during students’ free time and school breaks. PEPY’s junior high school program focuses on creativity and critical thinking through a Creative Learning Class, which uses XO computers, science experiments, and (soon) robots as media for learning problem solving.

Educational Tourism These rural education programs are supported in part through PEPY’s tourism arm, PEPY Tours. PEPY Tours offers learning, adventure, and development-education experiences to students, teachers, families, and independent groups looking to travel Cambodia responsibly. The tour fees cover participants’ travel expenses, and the required fundraising or donation goes directly to the non-profit programs.

School construction Although PEPY’s key focus is improving the quality of education in rural areas through holistic education programs and teacher training, PEPY also works with the Ministry of Education to improve access to permanent, safe classrooms where they are needed. To date, PEPY has funded the construction of 4 primary schools and two lower secondary schools.

PEPY Tours
PEPY Tours’ vision is for travelers and global communities to recognize their ability to enact changes they care about, through responsible giving and mutual respect. PEPY Tours therefore offers educational tours designed to inspire people to be more responsible donors, travelers and citizens, while also bringing financial support for PEPY’s educational programs. PEPY offers educational adventures, cycling trips, and community-based learning tours throughout Cambodia. These range from trips catered to specific school groups,, to custom tours, , to pre-set adventures which are offered periodically throughout the year.